Description
This print follows Gilbert Stuart’s 1796 Lansdowne portrait of George Washington, a life-size oil of the president in civilian clothes rather than a general’s uniform. Senator William Bingham and Anne Willing Bingham commissioned the canvas as a gift for William Petty, the first Marquess of Lansdowne. Washington sat for Stuart in April 1796 in Philadelphia. He posed for the head. The standing figure, sword, table, and hall of state were completed in the studio, as was usual.
The right arm is raised in an orator’s gesture tied to his address to Congress in December 1795. A sheathed sword marks civil office after military command. Books at the table include the Constitution and a history of the Revolution. Stuart painted more than one version of this type. The 1796 prime version is at the National Portrait Gallery.
This listing is a contemporary print after the Lansdowne image, not a museum canvas. Available on fine art paper, luster photo paper, or mounted canvas.
